The UFC is back on the grind this weekend with two free events.
UFC Fight Night 55 starts your weekend from Sydney, Australia with a top-10 middleweight matchup between Luke Rockhold and Michael Bisping. Helping bolster the event is Ross Pearson vs. Al Iaquinta in the co-main event.
The next day, UFC Fight Night 56 is capped off by Mauricio “Shogun” Rua vs. Ovince St. Preux and Ian McCall vs. John Lineker.
The weekend is jam-packed with sports action. The NBA is back in full swing, it will be one of the biggest weekends in college football this season and the UFC has both of its events going live as well. There is a lot of content for you to choose from. But I am here to tell you that you should not skip out on the UFC.
Here are three big reasons you should check in to the two UFC events coming your way.
UFC Fight Pass (subscription required)
It’s Friday night. UFC Fight Night 55 is getting underway but you are watching some other sporting event on TV, or maybe you are heading out to local high school football playoff games and the UFC event is on the backburner. Well, that is what UFC Fight Pass is for.
You can watch it on the second or third screen if you wish. It gives you flexibility to still enjoy the event while watching the game on TV or head out into the vast exciting world known as “outside.” Your desktop, laptop, smartphone or tablet are all capable of streaming the first UFC event of the weekend.
Praise be.
The UFC Fight Night 55 is not stacked top-to-bottom. I am not here to lead you astray or to blow smoke up anyone’s nether regions. However, there are plenty of fighters on that event who can make it worth your while.
Marcus Brimage, Luke Zachrich, Louis Smolka and Dylan Andrews are just a few of the fighters on the undercard who always come into the cage to bring you a fight. They are worth a watch. It may not be the elite level you get with the main event fights, but it is still entertaining. Then you get to the main card with heavyweights Soa Palelei and Walt Harris, and middleweights Robert Whittaker and Clint Hester.
This is a fun card, and UFC Fight Pass gives you the ability to watch while not missing out on the other events of the day.
Warlley Alves and Ian McCall vs. John Lineker
The UFC Fight Night 56 main card offers two key bouts to watch. No, it’s not Juliana Lima vs. Nina Ansaroff or Claudio Silva vs. Leon Edwards, although those might provide quality entertainment.
The first is Warlley Alves vs. Alan Jouban. Alves is a stellar prospect in the welterweight division and is a very exciting fighter. This is a great starting block for his first post-TUF fight. Jouban is a talented fighter who will show where Alves is now. How much work does Alves have to do before moving up toward the top 15 of the division? This fight will answer that for us.
The other bout could set up a potential title contender to Demetrious Johnson’s flyweight strap. No. 3-ranked contender McCall and No. 6-ranked Lineker meet in the co-main event in what could be the fight of the weekend. It’s that good.
Outside of the two main events, this is the only top 10 matchup of the weekend. And it is the only one that has the possibility of earning the winner an immediate title shot. McCall is a talker and wants a rematch with Johnson. Lineker has the style that fans love. And the paper-thin flyweight division needs more interesting challengers.
These two bouts alone make UFC Fight Night 56 worth watching.
Interesting Main Events
The top of the ticket is what sells. You know that, I know that, the world knows that. The undercard may help the event along its way, but if the main event isn’t up to snuff, the fans will tune out.
Well, the main events this weekend will deliver—albeit in two different ways.
Rockhold vs. Bisping will deliver as a top-tier middleweight matchup that will send the winner into title contention, a high-level affair that will largely take place on the feet. The title picture at 185 pounds is a bit murky, but a win for either of these two top-10 fighters will put them in position to be in line for a shot.
Shogun vs. OSP will not have as high of stakes, but it is still a top-10 bout. The reason this fight is interesting is what it will tell us about both fighters.
Is Rua over the hill, and should he hand them up? Where is OSP in his development, and is he ready to take the next step?
We will find out when they lock horns. Stylistically, this should be a very fun bout supplying the violence combat sport fans love. But it is how they look in this fight that is interesting. OSP has a lot of physical gifts to work with, and he needs to develop his technique to truly become a threat. If he dispatches of Shogun efficiently then we may have to look at him seriously.
Ultimately, the eyes will be on Shogun. Will he take out this borderline top-10 fighter and reclaim an elite-level status, or is it time for us to let it go and admit he is well past his prime? General consensus is the latter. Shogun can prove us wrong, and we should all tune in to see if he does.
This weekend’s fights are truly interesting, even though they lack the depth of quality from top to bottom. Two fight cards giving us enough to talk about before we head off to Mexico City for UFC 180 and an interim heavyweight-title tilt.
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